Systems/methods of conducting a financial transaction using a smartphone

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of inventive concepts are provided wherein a mobile device, such as a smartphone, may be configured to communicate with a base station, using a first mode, and to communicate with an access point using a second mode that comprises a level of security exceeding that of the first mode. The second mode communications between the mobile device and the access point are conducted over a short-range wireless link responsive to an identity of the mobile device and/or responsive to a biometric data being provided by a user of the mobile device. Such second mode wireless communications may include data relating to a financial transaction and/or other data that may require an increased level of privacy and/or security.

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/504,027, filed Oct. 1, 2014, entitled Systems/Methods of PreferentialCommunications, which itself is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/456,649, filed Aug. 11, 2014, entitledSystems/Methods of Adaptively Varying a Spectral Content ofCommunications, which itself is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/287,473, filed May 27, 2014, entitledSystems/Methods of Transmitting Information Via Baseband WaveformsComprising Frequency Content Agility and an Orthogonality Therebetween,which itself is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/187,899, filed Feb. 24, 2014, entitled Systems and/or Methods ofWireless Communications, which itself is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/011,451, filed Jan. 21, 2011, entitled Systemsand/or Methods of Increased Privacy Wireless Communications, whichitself is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/372,354, filed Feb. 17, 2009, entitled Wireless CommunicationsSystems and/or Methods Providing Low Interference, High Privacy and/orCognitive Flexibility, which itself claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/033,114, filed Mar. 3, 2008, entitled Next Generation(XG) Chipless Spread-Spectrum Communications (CSSC), and is acontinuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/720,115,filed May 24, 2007, entitled Systems, Methods, Devices and/or ComputerProgram Products For Providing Communications Devoid of CyclostationaryFeatures, which is a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage application of PCTApplication No. PCT/US2006/020417, filed on May 25, 2006, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/692,932, filedJun. 22, 2005, entitled Communications Systems, Methods, Devices andComputer Program Products for Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), LowProbability of Detection (LPD) and/or Low Probability of Exploitation(LPE) of Communications Information, and also claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/698,247, filed Jul. 11, 2005,entitled Additional Communications Systems, Methods, Devices andComputer Program Products for Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), LowProbability of Detection (LPD) and/or Low Probability of Exploitation(LPE) of Communications Information and/or Minimum InterferenceCommunications, the entirety of all of which are incorporated herein byreference. The above-referenced PCT International Application waspublished in the English language as International Publication No. WO2007/001707.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to communications systems and methods, and morespecifically to wireless preferential communications systems and methodswherein communications with an access point (e.g., femtocell) arepreferred to communications with a base station.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems and methods are increasingly being usedfor voice, data and/or multimedia communications. As the use of suchsystems/methods continues to increase, available bandwidths may limit anability to effectively transmit voice/data/multimedia content.Accordingly, access points other than base stations (e.g., femtocells)are increasingly being used to provide additional capacity and relievebase station load.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of preferential wireless communications systems/methods areprovided. According to some embodiments, a method of communicatingbetween a mobile device and a base station is provided wherein themethod includes preferentially communicating between the mobile deviceand an access point that is installed in a residence/office.Specifically, according to some embodiments, the method comprises:preferentially communicating with the access point when proximatethereto and refraining from communicating with the base station whenproximate to the access point even though communications with the basestation are possible when proximate to the access point; and further,preferentially communicating with a first access point that is installedin a residence/office responsive to an identity of the mobile device andrefraining from communicating with a second access point that isinstalled in a residence/office responsive to the identity of the mobiledevice.

In additional embodiments, the method further comprises: providingcommunications between a first device and the access point responsive toan identity of the first device and denying communications between asecond device and the access point responsive to an identity of thesecond device.

In further embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving anidentity from a device; authenticating the device responsive to thereceived identity; receiving a key from the device following saidreceiving an identity and following said authenticating; andestablishing communications with the device responsive to said receivinga key from the device; wherein prior to said receiving a key from thedevice, the method further comprises: providing the key to the deviceresponsive to said receiving an identity and responsive to saidauthenticating.

According to additional embodiments, the method further comprises:receiving an identity from a device; authenticating the deviceresponsive to the received identity; transmitting a notification; andestablishing communications with the device responsive to said receivingan identity, authenticating the device and transmitting a notification.

In yet further embodiments, the method comprises: providing an identityof the mobile device to the access point by accessing a web site andproviding to the web site the identity of the mobile device; andrelaying the identity to the access point by the web site.

Analogous systems embodiments are also provided. According to some suchsystems embodiments, a mobile device is configured to communicate with abase station and with an access point that is installed in aresidence/office; wherein the mobile device is configured to:preferentially communicate with the access point when proximate theretoand refrain from communicating with the base station when proximate tothe access point even though the mobile device is able to communicatewith the base station when proximate to the access point; and whereinthe mobile device is further configured to preferentially communicatewith a first access point that is installed in a residence/officeresponsive to an identity of the mobile device and to refrain fromcommunicating with a second access point that is installed in aresidence/office responsive to the identity of the mobile device.

According to additional embodiments, the system further comprises thebase station and/or the access point; wherein the access point isconfigured to provide communications service to a first deviceresponsive to an identity of the first device and deny communicationsservice to a second device responsive to an identity of the seconddevice.

In other embodiments, the system further comprises a processor that isconfigured to: receive an identity from a device; authenticate thedevice responsive to the received identity; receive a key from thedevice following having received the identity and following havingauthenticated the device; and establish communications with the deviceresponsive to having received the key from the device; wherein theprocessor is configured to provide the key responsive to having receivedthe identity from the device and having authenticated the device.

In yet additional embodiments, the system further comprises a processorthat is configured to: receive an identity from a device; authenticatethe device responsive to the received identity; transmit a notification;and establish communications with the device responsive to havingreceived the identity from the device, having authenticated the deviceand having transmitted the notification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of functions of a transmitteraccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of further functions of a transmitteraccording to further embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of waveform generation according toadditional embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of further functions of a transmitteraccording to further embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of additional functions of atransmitter according to additional embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of functions of a receiver accordingto embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of further functions of a transmitteraccording to further embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of spectrum used by a transmitteraccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of further functions of a receiveraccording to further embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a communications system basedupon one or more transmitters and one or more receivers according tofurther embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 11 through 14 illustrate functions of a receiver according tofurther embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of further functions of atransmitter and receiver according to further embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed according tosome embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a XG-CSSC system transmitter architectureaccording to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a XG-CSSC system receiver architectureaccording to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 19(a)-19(c) illustrate a power spectral density of a XG-CSSCwaveform in an interference-free environment, in interference avoidancemode illustrating a cognitive property, and following a square-lawdetector illustrating featureless (cyclostationary-free) nature,respectively, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 20 illustrates a power spectral density of a conventional QPSKwaveform and a cyclostationary feature thereof.

FIG. 21 illustrates a constellation of a XG-CSSC waveform according tovarious embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a histogram of transmitted symbols of a XG-CSSCwaveform corresponding to the constellation of FIG. 21 according tovarious embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 23 graphically illustrates BER vs. E_(S)/N₀ for 16-ary XG-CSSC and16-QAM spread spectrum according to various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 24 graphically illustrates BER vs. E_(S)/N₀ for 16-ary XG-CSSC and16-QAM Spread Spectrum subject to Co-Channel (“CC”) interferenceaccording to various embodiments of the invention. The CC interferenceconsidered is of two types: Wide-Band (“WB”) spanning the entire desiredsignal spectrum, and Band-Pass (“BP”) spanning only 20% of the desiredsignal spectrum. Interference and desired signal are assumed to haveidentical power.

FIG. 25 graphically illustrates BER vs. E_(S)/N₀ for 16-ary XG-CSSC and16-QAM Spread Spectrum subject to Band-Pass (“BP”) Co-Channelinterference according to various embodiments of the invention. The BPinterference spans 20% of the desired signal spectrum. The term“Adaptive XG-CSSC” in the legend refers to the cognitive feature ofXG-CSSC in sensing and avoiding the interference. Interference anddesired signal are assumed to have identical power.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of systems and/or methods of increasedprivacy wireless communications according to various embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of additional systems and/or methods ofincreased privacy wireless communications according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION

Specific exemplary embodiments of the invention now will be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. It will be understood that two or more embodimentsof the present invention as presented herein may be combined in whole orin part to form one or more additional embodiments.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein mayinclude wirelessly connected or coupled.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,”“including” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized oroverly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It will be understood that although terms such as first and second areused herein to describe various elements, these elements should not belimited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element. Thus, a first element below could betermed a second element, and similarly, a second element may be termed afirst element without departing from the teachings of the presentinvention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The symbol“I” is also used as a shorthand notation for “and/or”.

Moreover, as used herein the term “substantially the same” means thattwo or more entities that are being compared have commonfeatures/characteristics (e.g., are based upon a common kernel) but maynot be identical. For example, substantially the same bands offrequencies, means that two or more bands of frequencies being comparedsubstantially overlap, but that there may be some areas of non-overlap,for example at a band end. As another example, substantially the sameair interfaces means that two or more air interfaces being compared aresimilar but need not be identical. Some differences may exist in one airinterface (e.g., a satellite air interface) relative to another (e.g., aterrestrial air interface) to account for one or more differentcharacteristics that may exist between the terrestrial and satellitecommunications environments. For example, a different vocoder rate maybe used for satellite communications compared to the vocoder rate thatmay be used for terrestrial communications (i.e., for terrestrialcommunications, voice may be compressed (“vocoded”) to approximately 9to 13 kbps, whereas for satellite communications a vocoder rate ofapproximately 2 to 4 kbps, for example, may be used); a differentforward error correction coding, different interleaving depth, and/ordifferent spread-spectrum codes may also be used, for example, forsatellite communications compared to the coding, interleaving depth,and/or spread spectrum codes (i.e., Walsh codes, long codes, and/orfrequency hopping codes) that may be used for terrestrialcommunications.

The term “truncated” as used herein to describe a statisticaldistribution means that a random variable associated with thestatistical distribution is precluded from taking-on values over one ormore ranges. For example, a Normal/Gaussian distribution that is nottruncated, allows an associated random variable to take-on valuesranging from negative infinity to positive infinity with a frequency(i.e., a probability) as determined by the Normal/Gaussian probabilitydensity function. In contrast, a truncated Normal/Gaussian distributionmay allow an associated random variable to take-on values ranging from,for example, V₁ to V₂ (−∞<V₁, V₂<∞) in accordance with a Normal/Gaussiandistribution, and preclude the random variable from taking-on valuesoutside the range from V₁ to V₂. Furthermore, a truncated distributionmay allow an associated random variable to take-on values over aplurality of ranges (that may be a plurality of non-contiguous ranges)and preclude the random variable from taking-on values outside of theplurality of ranges.

As used herein, the term “transmitter” and/or “receiver” include(s)transmitters/receivers of cellular and/or satellite terminals with orwithout a multi-line display; Personal Communications System (PCS)terminals that may include data processing, facsimile and/or datacommunications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that caninclude a radio frequency transceiver and/or a pager, Internet/Intranetaccess, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtopcomputers or other appliances, which include a radio frequencytransceiver. As used herein, the term “transmitter” and/or “receiver”also include(s) any other radiating device, equipment and/or source thatmay have time-varying and/or fixed geographic coordinates and/or may beportable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime,or land-based) and/or situated/configured to operate locally and/or in adistributed fashion at any location(s) on earth, vehicles (land-mobile,maritime and/or aeronautical) and/or in space. A transmitter and/orreceiver also may be referred to herein as a “terminal” As used herein,the term “space-based” component and/or “space-based” system include(s)one or more satellites and/or one or more other objects and/or platforms(such as airplanes, balloons, unmanned vehicles, space crafts, missiles,etc.) that have a trajectory above the earth at any altitude.

Some embodiments of the present invention may arise from recognitionthat it may be desirable to communicate information based upon awaveform that is substantially devoid of a cyclostationary property. Asused herein to describe a waveform, the term “cyclostationary” meansthat the waveform comprises at least one signature/pattern that may be arepeating signature/pattern. Examples of a repeating signature/patternare a bit rate, a symbol rate, a chipping rate and/or a pulse shape(e.g., a Nyquist pulse shape) that may be associated with abit/symbol/chip. For example, each of the well known terrestrialcellular air interfaces of GSM and CDMA (cdma2000 or W-CDMA) comprises abit rate, a symbol rate, a chipping rate and/or a predetermined andinvariant pulse shape that is associated with the bit/symbol/chip and,therefore, comprise a cyclostationary property/signature. In contrast, awaveform that represents a random (or pseudo-random) noise process doesnot comprise a bit rate, a symbol rate, a chipping rate and/or apredetermined and invariant pulse shape and is, therefore, substantiallydevoid of a cyclostationary property/signature. According to someembodiments of the present invention, non-cyclostationary waveforms maybe used, particularly in those situations where LPI, LPD, LPE, private,secure and/or minimum interference communications are desirable.

Conventional communications systems use waveforms that are substantiallycyclostationary. This is primarily due to a methodology of transmittinginformation wherein a unit of information (i.e., a specific bit sequencecomprising one or more bits) is mapped into (i.e., is associated with) aspecific waveform shape (i.e., a pulse) and the pulse is transmitted bya transmitter in order to convey to a receiver the unit of information.Since there is typically a need to transmit a plurality of units ofinformation in succession, a corresponding plurality of pulses aretransmitted in succession. Any two pulses of the plurality of pulses maydiffer therebetween in sign, phase and/or magnitude, but a waveformshape that is associated with any one pulse of the plurality of pulsesremains substantially invariant from pulse to pulse and a rate of pulsetransmission also remains substantially invariant (at least over a timeinterval). The methodology of transmitting (digital) information asdescribed above has its origins in, and is motivated by, the way Morsecode evolved and was used to transmit information. Furthermore, themethodology yields relatively simple transmitter/receiverimplementations and has thus been adopted widely by many communicationssystems. However, the methodology suffers from generatingcyclostationary features/signatures that are undesirable if LPE/LPI/LPDand/or minimum interference communications are desirable. Embodiments ofthe present invention arise from recognition that communications systemsmay be based on a different methodology that is substantially devoid oftransmitting a modulated carrier, a sequence of substantially invariantpulse shapes and/or a chipping rate and that even spread-spectrumcommunications systems may be configured to transmit/receivespread-spectrum information using waveforms that are devoid of achipping rate.

A publication by W. A. Gardner, entitled “Signal Interception: AUnifying Theoretical Framework for Feature Detection,” IEEE Transactionson Communications, Vol. 36, No. 8, August 1988, notes in the Abstractthereof that the unifying framework of the spectral correlation theoryof cyclostationary signals is used to present a broad treatment of weakrandom signal detection for interception purposes. The relationshipsamong a variety of previously proposed ad hoc detectors, optimumdetectors, and newly proposed detectors are established. Thespectral-correlation-plane approach to the interception problem is putforth as especially promising for detection, classification, andestimation in particularly difficult environments involving unknown andchanging noise levels and interference activity. A fundamental drawbackof the popular radiometric methods in such environments is explained.According to some embodiments of the invention, it may be desirable tobe able to communicate information using waveforms that do notsubstantially include a cyclostationary feature/signature in order tofurther reduce the probability of intercept/detection/exploitation of acommunications system/waveform that is intended for LPI/LPD/LPEcommunications.

There are at least two potential advantages associated with signaldetection, identification, interception and/or exploitation based oncyclic spectral analysis compared with the energy detection(radiometric) method: (1) A cyclic signal feature (i.e., chip rateand/or symbol rate) may be discretely distributed even if a signal hascontinuous distribution in a power spectrum. This implies that signalsthat may have overlapping and/or interfering features in a powerspectrum may have a non-overlapping and distinguishable feature in termsof a cyclic characteristic. (2) A cyclic signal feature associated witha signal's cyclostationary property, may be identified via a “cyclicperiodogram.” The cyclic periodogram of a signal is a quantity that maybe evaluated from time-domain samples of the signal, a frequency-domainmapping such as, for example, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and/ordiscrete autocorrelation operations. Since very large point FFTs and/orautocorrelation operations may be implemented using Very Large ScaleIntegration (VLSI) technologies, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and/orother modern technologies, a receiver of an interceptor may beconfigured to perform signal Detection, Identification, Interceptionand/or Exploitation (D/I/I/E) based on cyclic feature detectionprocessing.

Given the potential limitation(s) of the radiometric approach and thepotential advantage(s) of cyclic feature detection technique(s) it isreasonable to expect that a sophisticated interceptor may be equippedwith a receiver based on cyclic feature detection processing. It is,therefore, of potential interest and potential importance to developcommunications systems capable of communicating information devoid ofcyclostationary properties/signatures to thereby render cyclic featuredetection processing by an interceptor substantially ineffective.

FIG. 1 illustrates embodiments of generating a communications alphabetcomprising M distinct pseudo-random, non-cyclostationary, orthogonaland/or orthonormal waveforms. As illustrated in FIG. 1, responsive to a“key” input (such as, for example, a TRANsmissions SECurity (TRANSEC)key input, a COMMunications SECurity (COMMSEC) key input and/or anyother key input), a Pseudo-Random Waveform Generator (PRWG) may be usedto generate a set of M distinct pseudo-random waveforms, which may,according to some embodiments of the invention, represent M ensembleelements of a Gaussian-distributed random (or pseudo-random) process.The M distinct pseudo-random waveforms (i.e., the M ensemble elements)may be denoted as {S(t)}={S₁(t), S₂(t), . . . , S_(M)(t)}; 0≦t≦τ. Theset of waveforms {S(t)} may be a band-limited set of waveforms having aone-sided bandwidth less than or equal to B Hz. As such, a number ofdistinct orthogonal and/or orthonormal waveforms that may be generatedfrom the set {S(t)} may, in accordance with established Theorems, beupper-bounded by CτB, where C≧2 (see, for example, P. M. Dollard, “Onthe time-bandwidth concentration of signal functions forming givengeometric vector configurations,” IEEE Transactions on InformationTheory, IT-10, pp. 328-338, October 1964; also see H. J. Landau and H.O. Pollak, “Prolate spheroidal wave functions, Fourier analysis anduncertainty—III: The dimension of the space of essentially time-andband-limited signals,” Bell System Technical Journal, 41, pp. 1295-1336,July 1962). It will be understood that in some embodiments of thepresent invention, the key input may not be used and/or may not exist.In such embodiments, one or more Time-of-Day (TOD) values may be usedinstead of the key input. In other embodiments, a key input and one ormore TOD values may be used. In still other embodiments, yet othervalues may be used.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the j^(th)element of the set of waveforms {S(t)}, S_(j)(t); j=1, 2, . . . , M; maybe generated by a respective j^(th) PRWG in response to a respectivej^(th) key input and/or TOD value, as illustrated in FIG. 2. In someembodiments according to FIG. 2, each of the PRWG is the same PRWG andeach key differs relative to each other key. In other embodiments, eachkey is the same key and each PRWG differs relative to each other PRWG.In further embodiments of FIG. 2, each key differs relative to eachother key and each PRWG also differs relative to each other PRWG. Othercombinations and sub-combinations of these embodiments may be provided.In still other embodiments, a single PRWG and a single key may be usedto generate a “long” waveform S_(L)(t) which may be segmented into Moverlapping and/or non-overlapping components to form a set of waveforms{S(t)}, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Note that any τ-sec. segment ofS_(L)(t) may be used to define S₁(t). Similarly, any τ-sec. segment ofS_(L)(t) may be used to define S₂(t), with possibly the exception of thesegment used-to define S₁(t), etc. The choices may be predeterminedand/or based on a key input.

In some embodiments of the invention, a new set of waveforms {S(t)} maybe formed periodically, non-periodically, periodically over a first timeinterval and non-periodically over a second time interval and/orperiodically but with a jitter imposed on a periodicity interval,responsive one or more TOD values that may, for example, be derived fromprocessing of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, and/or responsiveto a transmission of a measure of at least one of the elements of{S(t)}. In some embodiments, a processor may be operatively configuredas a background operation, generating new sets of waveforms {S(t)}, andstoring the new sets of waveforms {S(t)} in memory to be accessed andused as needed. In further embodiments, a used set of waveforms {S(t)}may be discarded and not used again, whereas in other embodiments, aused set of waveforms {S(t)} may be placed in memory to be used again ata later time. In some embodiments, some sets of waveforms {S(t)} areused once and then discarded, other sets of waveforms {S(t)} are notused at all, and still other sets of waveforms {S(t)} are used more thanonce. Finally, in some embodiments, the waveform duration τ and/or thewaveform bandwidth B may vary between different sets of waveforms,transmission intervals and/or elements of a given set of waveforms.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the set of substantially continuous-timewaveforms {S(t)}={S₁(t), S₂(t), . . . , S_(M)(t)}; 0≦t≦τ; may, accordingto some embodiments of the present invention, be transformed from asubstantially continuous-time representation to a substantiallydiscrete-time representation using, for example, one or moreAnalog-to-Digital (A/D) converters and/or one or more Sample-and-Hold(S/H) circuits, to generate a corresponding substantially discrete-timeset of waveforms {S(nT)}={S₁(nT), S₂(nT), . . . , S_(M)(nT)}; n=1, 2, .. . , N; nT≦τ. A Gram-Schmidt orthogonalizer and/or orthonormalizerand/or any other orthogonalizer and/or orthonormalizer, may then beused, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to generate a set of waveforms{U(nT)}={U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)}; n=1, 2, . . . , N; nT≦τthat are orthogonal and/or orthonormal therebetween. The GSO and/orother orthogonalization and/or orthonormalization procedure(s) are knownto those skilled in the art and need not be described further herein(see, for example, Simon Haykin, “Adaptive Filter Theory,” at 173, 301,497; 1986 by Prentice-Hall; and Bernard Widrow and Samuel D. Stearns“Adaptive Signal Processing,” at 183; 1985 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.).

It will be understood that the sampling interval T may be chosen inaccordance with Nyquist sampling theory to thereby preserve by thediscrete-time waveforms {S(nT)} all, or substantially all, of theinformation contained in the continuous-time waveforms {S(t)}. It willalso be understood that, in some embodiments of the invention, thesampling interval T may be allowed to vary over the waveform duration τ,between different waveforms of a given set of waveforms and/or betweendifferent sets of waveforms. Furthermore, the waveform duration τ may beallowed to vary, in some embodiments, between different waveforms of agiven set of waveforms and/or between different sets of waveforms. Insome embodiments of the present invention, {S(nT)}={S₁(nT), S₂(nT), . .. , S_(M)(nT)}; n=1, 2, . . . , N; nT≦τ may be generated directly in adiscrete-time domain by configuring one or more Pseudo-Random NumberGenerators (PRNG) to generate S₁(nT); n=1, 2, . . . , N; nT≦τ for eachvalue of j (j=1, 2, . . . , M). The one or more PRNG may be configuredto generate S_(j)(nT); n=1, 2, . . . , N; j=1, 2, . . . , M, based uponat least one statistical distribution. In some embodiments according tothe present invention, the at least one statistical distributioncomprises a Normal/Gaussian, Bernoulli, Geometric, Pascal/NegativeBinomial, Exponential, Erlang, Weibull, Chi-Squared, F, Student's t,Rise, Pareto, Poisson, Binomial, Uniform, Gamma, Beta, Laplace, Cauchy,Rayleigh, Maxwell and/or any other distribution. In further embodiments,the at least one statistical distribution is truncated. In still furtherembodiments, the at least one statistical distribution depends upon avalue of the index j and/or n (i.e., the at least one statisticaldistribution is a function of (j, n)).

In still further embodiments of the present invention, {S(nT)} may begenerated by configuring one or more PRNG to generate real, imaginaryand/or complex values that are then subjected to a linear and/ornon-linear transformation to generate S_(j)(nT); n=1, 2, . . . , N; j=1,2, . . . , M. In some embodiments of the present invention, thetransformation comprises a Fourier transformation. In furtherembodiments, the transformation comprises an inverse Fouriertransformation. In still further embodiments, the transformationcomprises an Inverse Fast Fourier Transformation (IFFT). The real,imaginary and/or complex values may be based upon at least onestatistical distribution. The at least one statistical distribution maycomprise a Normal/Gaussian, Bernoulli, Geometric, Pascal/NegativeBinomial, Exponential, Erlang, Weibull, Chi-Squared, F, Student's t,Rise, Pareto, Poisson, Binomial, Uniform, Gamma, Beta, Laplace, Cauchy,Rayleigh, Maxwell and/or any other distribution and the at least onestatistical distribution may be truncated. In still further embodiments,the at least one statistical distribution depends upon a value of theindex j and/or n (i.e., the at least one statistical distribution is afunction of (j, n)).

The set {U(nT)}={U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)}; n=1, 2, . . . , N;NT≦τ, may be used, in some embodiments of the present invention, todefine an M-ary pseudo-random and non-cyclostationary alphabet. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, an information symbol I_(k), occurring at adiscrete time k (for example, at t=kτ or, more generally, if thediscrete time epochs/intervals are variable, at t=τ_(k)), and having oneof M possible information values, {I₁, I₂, . . . , I_(M)}, may be mappedonto one of the M waveforms of the alphabet {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . ,U_(M)(nT)}; n=1, 2, . . . , N; NT≦τ. For example, in some embodiments,if I_(k)=I₂, then during the k^(th) signaling interval the waveformU₂(nT) may be transmitted; n=1, 2, . . . , N; NT≦τ. It will beunderstood that transmitting the waveform U₂(nT) comprises transmittingsubstantially all of the elements (samples) of the waveform U₂(nT)wherein substantially all of the elements (samples) of the waveformU₂(nT) means transmitting U₂(T), U₂(2T), . . . , and U₂(NT).Furthermore, it will be understood that any unambiguous mapping betweenthe M possible information values of I_(k) and the M distinct waveformsof the M-ary alphabet, {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)}, may be usedto communicate information to a receiver (destination) provided that thereceiver also has knowledge of the mapping. It will also be appreciatedthat the ordering or indexing of the alphabet elements and theunambiguous mapping between the M possible information values of I_(k)and the M distinct waveforms of the M-ary alphabet may be arbitrary, aslong as both transmitter (source) and receiver (destination) haveknowledge of the ordering and mapping.

In some embodiments of the invention, the information symbol I_(k), maybe constrained to only two possible values (binary system). In suchembodiments of the invention, the M-ary alphabet may be a binary (M=2)alphabet comprising only two elements, such as, for example, {U₁(nT),U₂(nT)}. In other embodiments of the invention, while an informationsymbol, I_(k), is allowed to take on one of M distinct values (M≧2) thealphabet comprises more than M distinct waveforms, that may, accordingto embodiments of the invention be orthogonal/orthonormal waveforms,{U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(L)(nT)}; L>M, to thereby increase a distancebetween a set of M alphabet elements that are chosen and used tocommunicate information and thus allow an improvement of acommunications performance measure such as, for example, an error rate,a propagations distance and/or a transmitted power level. It will beunderstood that in some embodiments, the number of distinct values thatmay be made available to an information symbol to thereby allow theinformation symbol to communicate one or more bits of information, maybe reduced or increased responsive to a channel state such as, forexample an attenuation, a propagation distance and/or an interferencelevel. In further embodiments, a number of distinct elements comprisingan alphabet may also change responsive to a channel state. In someembodiments, as a number of information symbol states (values) decreasesa number of distinct elements comprising an alphabet increases, tothereby provide further communications benefit(s) such as, for example,a lower bit error rate, a longer propagation distance, reducedtransmitted power, etc.

It will be understood that at least some conventional transmitterfunctions comprising, for example, Forward Error Correction (FEC)encoding, interleaving, data repetition, filtering, amplification,modulation, frequency translation, scrambling, frequency hopping, etc.,although not shown in FIGS. 1 through 4, may also be used in someembodiments of the present invention to configure an overall transmitterchain. At least some of these conventional transmitter functions may beused, in some embodiments, in combination with at least some of thesignal processing functions of FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, to specify anoverall transmitter signal processing chain. For example, an informationbit sequence may be FEC encoded using, for example, a convolutionalencoder, interleaved and/or bit-to-symbol converted to define a sequenceof information symbols, {I_(k)}. The sequence of information symbols,{I_(k)}, may then be mapped onto a waveform sequence {U_(k)}, asillustrated in FIG. 4. At least some, and in some embodiments all, ofthe elements of the waveform sequence {U_(k)} may then be repeated, atleast once, to increase a redundancy measure, interleaved, filtered,frequency translated, amplified and/or frequency-hopped, for example,(not necessarily in that order) prior to being radiated by an antenna ofthe transmitter. An exemplary embodiment of a transmitter comprisingconventional signal functions in combination with at least some of thesignal processing functions of FIG. 1 through FIG. 4 is illustrated inFIG. 5.

A receiver (destination) that is configured to receive communicationsinformation from a transmitter (source) comprising functions of FIG. 1through FIG. 4, may be equipped with sufficient information to generatea matched filter bank responsive to the M-ary alphabet {U₁(nT), U₂(nT),. . . , U_(M)(nT)} of FIG. 4. Such a receiver may be substantiallysynchronized with one or more transmitters using, for example,GPS-derived timing information. Substantial relative synchronism betweena receiver and at least one transmitter may be necessary to reliablygenerate/update at the receiver the M-ary alphabet functions {U₁(nT),U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)} and/or the matched filter bank to therebyprovide the receiver with substantial optimum reception capability.

In some embodiments of the invention, all transmitters and receivers aresubstantially synchronized using GPS-derived timing information. It willbe understood that a receiver may be provided with the appropriate keysequence(s) and the appropriate signal processing algorithms to therebyresponsively form and/or update the M-ary alphabet functions and/or thematched filter bank. It will also be understood that a receiver may alsobe configured with an inverse of conventional transmitter functions thatmay be used by a transmitter. For example, if, in some embodiments, atransmitter is configured with scrambling, interleaving of data andfrequency hopping, then a receiver, may be configured with the inverseoperations of de-scrambling, de-interleaving of data and frequencyde-hopping. An exemplary embodiment of a receiver, which may correspondto the exemplary transmitter embodiment of FIG. 5, is illustrated inFIG. 6.

FIG. 7 illustrates elements of a communications transmitter according tofurther embodiments of the invention. As shown in FIG. 7, followingconventional operations of Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding, bitinterleaving and bit-to-symbol conversion (performed on an input bitsequence {b} to thereby form an information symbol sequence {I_(k)}),the information symbol sequence {I_(k)} is mapped onto anon-cyclostationary waveform sequence {U_(k)(nT)} using a first M-arynon-cyclostationary orthonormal alphabet (Alphabet 1). An element of{U_(k)(nT)} may then be repeated (at least once), as illustrated in FIG.7, using a second M-ary non-cyclostationary orthonormal alphabet(Alphabet 2), interleaved, transformed to a continuous-time domainrepresentation, filtered, amplified (not necessarily in that order) andtransmitted. The repeat of an element of {U_(k)(nT)} may be performedusing a different alphabet (Alphabet 2) in order to reduce or eliminatea cyclostationary feature/signature in the transmitted waveform. For atleast the same reason, the at least two alphabets of FIG. 7 may bereplaced by new alphabets following the transmission of a predeterminednumber of waveform symbols. In some embodiments, the predeterminednumber of waveform symbols is one. As stated earlier, a large reservoirof alphabets may be available and new alphabet choices may be madefollowing the transmission of the predetermined number of waveformsymbols and/or at predetermined TOD values.

According to some embodiments of the invention, the M-arynon-cyclostationary orthonormal alphabet waveforms may be broadbandwaveforms as illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates a power spectraldensity of a broadband waveform defining the M-ary non-cyclostationaryorthonormal alphabet (such as, for example, waveform S_(L)(t) of FIG.3), over frequencies of, for example, an L-band (e.g., from about 1525MHz to about 1660.5 MHz). However, FIG. 8 is for illustrative purposesonly and the power spectral density of S_(L)(t) and/or any other set ofwaveforms used to define the M-ary non-cyclostationary orthonormalalphabet may be chosen to exist over any other frequency range and/orinterval(s). In some embodiments, different alphabets may be definedover different frequency ranges/intervals (this feature may provideintrinsic frequency hopping capability). As is further illustrated inFIG. 8 (second trace), certain frequency intervals that warrantprotection (or additional protection) from interference, such as, forexample, a GPS frequency interval, may be substantially excluded fromproviding frequency content for the generation of the M-arynon-cyclostationary orthonormal alphabets. It will be appreciated thatthe transmitter embodiment of FIG. 7 illustrates a “direct synthesis”transmitter in that the transmitter directly synthesizes a waveform thatis to be transmitted, without resorting to up-conversion, frequencytranslation and/or carrier modulation functions. This aspect may furtherenhance the LPI/LPD/LPE feature(s) of a communications system.

In embodiments of the invention where a bandwidth of a signal to betransmitted by a transmitter (such as the transmitter illustrated inFIG. 7) exceeds a bandwidth limit associated with an antenna and/orother element of the transmitter, the signal may bedecomposed/segmented/divided into a plurality of components, eachcomponent of the plurality of components having a bandwidth that issmaller than the bandwidth of the signal. Accordingly, a transmitter maybe configured with a corresponding plurality of antennas and/or acorresponding plurality of other elements to transmit the plurality ofcomponents. Analogous operations for reception may be included in areceiver.

In some embodiments of the invention, a receiver (destination) that isconfigured to receive communications information from a transmitter(source) comprising the functionality of FIG. 7, may be provided withsufficient information to generate a matched filter bank correspondingto the transmitter waveform set of the M-ary alphabet {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), .. . , U_(M)(nT)}. Such a receiver may be substantially synchronized withthe transmitter using GPS-derived timing information (i.e., TOD). FIG. 9illustrates elements of such a receiver, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 9,following front-end filtering, amplification and Analog-to-Digital (A/D)and/or discrete-time conversion of a received waveform, a matched-filterbank, comprising matched filters reflecting the TOD-dependent waveformalphabets used by the transmitter, is used for detection of information.The receiver may have information regarding what waveform alphabet thetransmitter may have used as a function of TOD. As such, the receiver,operating in substantial TOD synchronism with the transmitter, may knowto configure the matched-filter bank with the appropriate(TOD-dependent) matched filter components to thereby achieve optimum ornear optimum signal detection. Following matched-filter detection,symbol de-interleaving and symbol repeat combination, soft decisions ofa received symbol sequence may be made, followed by bit de-interleavingand bit decoding, to thereby generate an estimate of a transmittedinformation bit sequence.

In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, a receiverarchitecture, such as, for example, the receiver architectureillustrated in FIG. 9, may further configure a matched filter bank toinclude a “rake” matched filter architecture, to thereby resolvemultipath components and increase or maximize a desired received signalenergy subject to multipath fading channels. Owing to the broadbandnature of the communications alphabets, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention, a significant number of multipathcomponents may be resolvable. Rake matched filter architectures areknown to those skilled in the art and need not be described furtherherein (see, for example, John G. Proakis, “Digital Communications,”McGraw-Hill, 1983, section 7.5 starting at 479; also see R. Price and P.E. Green Jr. “A Communication Technique for Multipath Channels,” Proc.IRE, Vol. 46, pp. 555-570, March 1958).

FIG. 10 illustrates an operational scenario relating to a communicationssystem that may be a covert communications system, in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention, wherein air-to-ground,air-to-air, air-to-satellite and/or satellite-to-ground communicationsmay be conducted. Ground-to-ground communications (not illustrated inFIG. 10) may also be conducted. Modes of communications may be, forexample, point-to-point and/or point-to-multipoint. A network topologythat is predetermined and/or configured in an ad hoc fashion, inaccordance with principles known to those skilled in the art, may beused to establish communications in accordance with any of theembodiments of the invention and/or combinations (or sub-combinations)thereof.

FIGS. 11 through 14 illustrate elements relating to a matched filterand/or a matched filter bank in accordance with exemplary embodiments ofthe invention, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. FIG.15 further illustrates elements of a transmitter/receiver combination inaccordance with further embodiments of the invention. The design andoperation of blocks that are illustrated in the block diagrams hereinand not described in detail are well known to those having skill in theart.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described above in termsof systems, methods, devices and/or computer program products thatprovide communications devoid of cyclostationary features. However,other embodiments of the present invention may selectively provide thesecommunications devoid of cyclostationary features. For example, as shownin FIG. 15, if LPI/LPD/LPE and/or minimum interference communicationsare desired, then non-cyclostationary waveforms may be transmitted.However, when LPI/LPD/LPE and/or minimum interference communicationsneed not be transmitted, cyclostationary waveforms may be used. Anindicator may be provided to allow a receiver/transmitter to determinewhether cyclostationary or non-cyclostationary waveforms are beingtransmitted or need to be transmitted. Accordingly, a given system,method, device and/or computer program can operate in one of two modes,depending upon whether LPI/LPD/LPE and/or minimum interferencecommunications are desired, and/or based on other parameters and/orproperties of the communications environment.

In still further embodiments of the present invention, a transmitter maybe configured to selectively radiate a pseudo-random noise waveform thatmay be substantially devoid of information and is distributed inaccordance with at least one statistical distribution such as, forexample, Normal/Gaussian, Bernoulli, Geometric, Pascal/NegativeBinomial, Exponential, Erlang, Weibull, Chi-Squared, F, Student's t,Rise, Pareto, Poisson, Binomial, Uniform, Gamma, Beta, Laplace, Cauchy,Rayleigh, Maxwell and/or any other distribution. The at least onestatistical distribution may be truncated and the pseudo-random noisewaveform may occupy a bandwidth that is substantially the same as abandwidth occupied by a communications waveform. The transmitter may beconfigured to selectively radiate the pseudo-random noise waveformduring periods of time during which no communications information isbeing transmitted. This may be used, in some embodiments, to create asubstantially constant/invariant ambient/background noise floor, that issubstantially independent of whether or not communications informationis being transmitted, to thereby further mask an onset of communicationsinformation transmission.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that thecommunications systems, waveforms, methods, computer program productsand/or principles described herein may also find applications inenvironments wherein covertness may not be a primary concern.Communications systems, waveforms, methods, computer program productsand/or principles described herein may, for example, be used to provideshort-range wireless communications (that may, in accordance with someembodiments, be broadband short-range wireless communications) in, forexample, a home, office, conference and/or business environment whilereducing and/or minimizing a level of interference to one or more othercommunications services and/or systems that may be using the same,substantially the same and/or near-by frequencies as the short-rangecommunications system.

Other applications of the communications systems, waveforms, methods,computer program products and/or principles described herein will alsooccur to those skilled in the art, including, for example, radarapplications and/or cellular telecommunications applications.

In a cellular telecommunications application, for example, a cellulartelecommunications system, in accordance with communications waveformprinciples described herein, may be configured, for example, as anoverlay to one or more conventional cellular/PCS systems and/or one ormore other systems, using the frequencies of one or more licensed and/orunlicensed bands (that may also be used by the one or more conventionalcellular/PCS systems and/or the one or more other systems) tocommunicate with user equipment using broadband and/or Ultra Wide-Band(UWB) waveforms. The broadband and/or UWB waveforms may benon-cyclostationary and Gaussian-distributed, for example, in accordancewith the teachings of the present invention, to thereby reduce and/orminimize a level of interference to the one or more conventionalcellular/PCS systems and/or to the one or more other systems by theoverlay cellular telecommunications system and thereby allow the overlaycellular telecommunications system to reuse the available spectrum(which is also used by the one or more conventional cellular/PCS systemsand/or the one or more other systems) to provide communications servicesto users.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a cellulartelecommunications system that is configured to communicate with userdevices using communications waveforms in accordance with thetransmitter, receiver and/or waveform principles described herein, is anoverlay to one or more conventional cellular/PCS systems and/or to oneor more other systems and is using the frequencies of one or morelicensed and/or unlicensed bands (also being used by the one or moreconventional cellular/PCS systems and/or the one or more other systems).The cellular telecommunications system may be further configured toprovide communications preferentially using frequencies of the one ormore licensed and/or unlicensed bands that are locally not usedsubstantially and/or are locally used substantially as guardbands and/ortransition bands by the one or more conventional cellular/PCS systemsand/or the one or more other systems, to thereby further reduce a levelof interference between the cellular telecommunications system and theone or more conventional cellular/PCS systems and/or the one or moreother systems.

As used herein, the terms “locally not used substantially” and/or“locally used substantially as guardbands and/or transition bands” referto a local service area of a base station and/or group of base stationsand/or access point(s) of the cellular telecommunications system. Insuch a service area, the cellular telecommunications system may, forexample, be configured to identify frequencies that are “locally notused substantially” and/or frequencies that are “locally usedsubstantially as guardbands and/or transition bands” by the one or moreconventional cellular/PCS systems and/or the one or more other systemsand preferentially use the identified frequencies to communicatebidirectionally and/or unidirectionally with user equipment therebyfurther reducing or minimizing a measure of interference. While thepresent invention has been described in detail by way of illustrationand example of preferred embodiments, numerous modifications,substitutions and/or alterations are possible without departing from thescope of the invention as described herein. Numerous combinations,sub-combinations, modifications, alterations and/or substitutions ofembodiments described herein will become apparent to those skilled inthe art. Such combinations, sub-combinations, modifications, alterationsand/or substitutions of the embodiments described herein may be used toform one or more additional embodiments without departing from the scopeof the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described above in termsof systems, methods, devices and/or computer program products thatprovide communication devoid of cyclostationary features. However, otherembodiments of the present invention may selectively providecommunications devoid of cyclostationary features. For example, as shownin FIG. 16, if LPI/LPD/LPE communications are desired, thennon-cyclostationary waveforms may be transmitted. In contrast, whenLPI/LPD/LPE communications need not be transmitted, cyclostationarywaveforms may be used. An indicator may be provided to allow a receiverto determine whether cyclostationary or non-cyclostationary waveformsare being transmitted. Accordingly, a given system, method, deviceand/or computer program can operate in one of two modes, depending uponwhether LPI/LPD/LPE communications are desired.

The present invention has been described with reference to blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (systems)and/or computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to producea machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processorof the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus,create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or insoftware (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.).Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in themedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system.In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks of the block diagrams/flowcharts mayoccur out of the order noted in the block diagram/flowcharts. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts/blockdiagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionalityof two or more blocks of the flowcharts/block diagrams may be at leastpartially integrated.

Next Generation (XG) Chipless Spread-Spectrum Communications (CSSC)

Introduction & Executive Summary

According to some embodiments of a neXt Generation (XG) ChiplessSpread-Spectrum Communications (CSSC) system, described furtherhereinbelow and referred to as “XG-CSSC,” XG-CSSC provides extremeprivacy, cognitive radio capability, robustness to fading andinterference, communications performance associated with M-aryorthonormal signaling and high multiple-access capacity. XG-CSSC usesspread-spectrum waveforms that are devoid of chipping and devoid of anycyclostationary signature, statistically indistinguishable from thermalnoise and able to cognitively fit within any available frequency space(narrow-band, broad-band, contiguous, non-contiguous).

According to some embodiments, XG-CSSC maintains some or all desirablefeatures of classical direct-sequence spread-spectrum communicationswhile providing new dimensions that are important to military andcommercial systems. For military communications, XG-CSSC combines M-aryorthonormal signaling with chipless spread-spectrum waveforms to provideextreme covertness and privacy. Military wireless networks whose missionis to gather and disseminate intelligence stealthily, in accordance withLow Probability of Intercept (LPI), Low Probability of Detection (LPD)and Low Probability of Exploitation (LPE) doctrine, may use XG-CSSCterrestrially and/or via satellite. In situations where armed forcesface difficult spectrum access issues, XG-CSSC may be used tocognitively and covertly utilize spectrum resources at minimal impact toincumbent users.

Commercially, XG-CSSC may be used to provide opportunisticcommunications using spectrum that is detected unused. As spectrum usagecontinues to increase, it may become important to equip networks anduser devices with agility to use opportunistically any portion (orportions) of a broad range of frequencies that is/are detected as unusedor lightly used. A regime is envisioned wherein primary usage ofspectrum and secondary (opportunistic) usage of the same spectrumco-exist on a non-interference, or substantially non-interference,basis.

XG-CSSC Fundamentals:

In accordance with XG-CSSC, a Gram-Schmidt Orthonormalization (GSO)procedure, or any other orthonormalization or orthogonalizationprocedure, may be applied to a set of “seed” functions, to generate anorthonormal/orthogonal set of waveforms. According to some embodiments,the seed functions may be discrete-time functions, may be constructedpseudo-randomly in accordance with, for example, Gaussian statistics(that may be truncated Gaussian statistics) and in accordance with anydesired power spectral density characteristic that may be predeterminedand/or adaptively formed based on cognitive radio principles. The GSOoperation performed on the seed functions yields a set ofGaussian-distributed orthonormal waveforms. The set ofGaussian-distributed orthonormal waveforms may be used to define asignaling alphabet that may be used to map an information sequence intospread-spectrum waveforms without resorting to chipping of theinformation sequence.

Referring to FIG. 17, a Power Spectrum Estimator (PSE) may be used toidentify frequency content being radiated by other transmitters. Thismay be accomplished by, for example, subjecting a band of frequencies,over which it is desired to transmit information, to a Fast FourierTransform (FFT). Responsive to the output of the PSE, a “Water-FillingSpectrum Shape” (WFSS) may be formed in the FFT domain. Each element(bin) of the WFSS FFT may be assigned a pseudo-random phase value thatmay be chosen from (0, 2π). An Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) maybe applied to the WFSS FFT, as illustrated in FIG. 17, to generate acorresponding Gaussian-distributed discrete-time function. (Thetechnique is not limited to Gaussian distributions. However, theGaussian distribution is of particular interest since waveforms thathave Gaussian statistics and are devoid of cyclostationary features aresubstantially indistinguishable from thermal noise.) The process may berepeated M times to produce a set of M independent Gaussian-distributeddiscrete-time functions. Still referring to FIG. 17, the output valuesof the IFFT may be limited in amplitude, in accordance with a truncatedGaussian distribution, in order to minimize non-linear distortioneffects in the amplification stages of the radio.

We let the set of M independent Gaussian-distributed discrete-timefunctions be denoted by {S(nT)}={S₁(nT), S₂(nT), . . . , S_(M)(nT)};n=1, 2, . . . , N. We also let a one-sided bandwidth of {S(nT)} belimited to B Hz. As such, a number of orthogonal waveforms that may begenerated from {S(nT)} may, in accordance with established theorems, beupper-bounded by 2.4τB; where τ=NT. (See P. M. Dollard, “On thetime-bandwidth concentration of signal functions forming given geometricvector configurations,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IT-10,pp. 328-338, October 1964; also see H. J. Landau and H. O. Pollak,“Prolate spheroidal wave functions, Fourier analysis anduncertainty—III: The dimension of the space of essentially time-andband-limited signals,” BSTJ, 41, pp. 1295-1336, July 1962) Accordingly,{S(nT)} may be subjected to a GSO in order to generate a set of Morthonormal waveforms {U(nT)}≡{U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)}; n=1,2, . . . , N.

The set of orthonormal waveforms {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)} maybe used to define an M-ary orthonormal Gaussian-distributed signalingalphabet whose elements may be used to map an M-ary information sequence{I_(k)}; I_(k)

{I₁, I₂, . . . , I_(M)} into a spread-spectrum waveform sequence{U_(k)(nT)}. (The discrete-time index “k” relates to the signalinginterval whereas the discrete-time index “n” refers to the waveformsampling interval. A signaling interval includes N waveform samplingintervals.)

Thus, in accordance with M-ary signaling, a block of L bits (2^(L)=M)may be associated with one element of {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . ,U_(M)(nT)}. Alternatively, since the system comprises M orthogonalchannels (as defined by the M orthonormal waveforms) two or more of theorthonormal waveforms may be transmitted simultaneously. In thisconfiguration, each one of the transmitted orthonormal waveforms may bemodulated by either “+1” or “−1.”, to reflect a state of an associatedbit, thus conveying one bit of information. The following exampleillustrates a trade off between M-ary orthogonal signaling and binarysignaling.

As stated earlier, a number of orthogonal waveforms that may begenerated from a set of seed waveforms {S(nT)} is upper-bounded by2.4τB. Let us assume that each seed waveform is band-limited to B=500kHz (one-sided bandwidth) and that the signaling interval τ=NT is 1 ms.Thus, M≦2.4τB=2.4*(10⁻³)*(0.5*10⁶)=1200. Assuming that a number of 1024of orthonormal waveforms can be constructed, transmitting oneorthonormal waveform may relay 10 bits of information. Thus, the M-arysignaling approach may yield a data throughput of 10 kbps (since thesignaling interval is 1 ms). Turning now to the binary signalingapproach, each one of a plurality of orthonormal waveforms may bemodulated by either “+1” or “−1” and transmitted, conveying 1 bit ofinformation. If all 1024 orthonormal waveforms are used, the datathroughput may be 1024 bits per τ=10⁻³ seconds or, 1.024 Mbps. It isseen that the two approaches differ in data throughput by 20 dB but theyalso differ in E_(b)/N₀ performance. Since the M-ary signaling schemeconveys 10 bits of information per transmitted waveform, while thebinary signaling approach conveys one bit of information per transmittedwaveform, the M-ary signaling approach enjoys a 10 dB E_(b)/N₀ advantageover the binary signaling approach. (Assuming the probability of errorassociated with a channel symbol is kept the same for the two signalingschemes.) Thus, whereas the binary signaling scheme may be ideallysuited for high-capacity multiple-access military and/or commercialcommunications, the M-ary signaling scheme may be preferred for certainspecial operations situations that require extreme covertness and/orprivacy.

A receiver that is configured to receive information from thetransmitter of FIG. 17, may be equipped with sufficient information togenerate a matched filter bank corresponding to the M-ary signalingalphabet {U₁(nT), U₂(nT), . . . , U_(M)(nT)}. FIG. 18 illustrates keyfunctions of such a receiver. The receiver may further be optimized forfading channels by using “rake” principles. In some embodiments, thereceiver may be configured to detect lightly used or unused frequenciesand instruct one or more transmitters, via a control channel message, totransmit information over the detected lightly used or unusedfrequencies. This may be accomplished, in some embodiments of theinvention, by configuring the receiver to instruct the one or moretransmitters by transmitting frequency-occupancy information, via thecontrol channel, over a predetermined, known to the one or moretransmitters, frequency interval, that may contain interference. Thepredetermined frequency interval may, according to some embodiments, bechanging with time responsive to, for example, a Time-of-Day (ToD) valueand/or any other input. The frequency-occupancy information may be ofrelatively low data rate and the predetermined frequency interval may berelatively large in bandwidth so as to provide sufficient processinggain to overcome the interference. In further embodiments of theinvention, one or more elements of the M-ary signaling alphabet may beprecluded from being used for wireless transmission and this may be usedto provide a receiver with error detection and/or error correctioncapability, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Preliminary Computer Simulations:

Transmission and reception of information based on XG-CSSC waveforms hasbeen simulated using 16-ary Gaussian-distributed orthonormal alphabetsthat were constructed in accordance with the principles describedherein. FIG. 19(a) is a Power Spectral Density (“PSD”) of a transmittedXG-CSSC carrier in an interference-free environment (or in the presenceof interference but without the cognitive function having beenactivated). In contrast, FIG. 19(b) shows the impact of a radio'scognitive function. As seen from FIG. 19(b), responsive to a detectionof interference (indicated in FIG. 19(b) by the red or lighter trace),the PSD of a XG-CSSC carrier is “molded” around the interference. Thatis, the radio's cognitive function senses the power spectrumdistribution of interference and forms a 16-ary signaling alphabet withspectral content that avoids the interference. FIG. 19(c) shows the PSDof the XG-CSSC carrier (of FIG. 19(a) or 19(b)) following square-lawdetection, illustrating a featureless (non-cyclostationary) naturethereof. By comparison, the first and second traces of FIG. 20 show aPSD of conventional QPSK and a PSD of conventional QPSK followingsquare-law detection, illustrating a cyclostationary signature ofconventional QPSK.

FIG. 21 shows a constellation associated with transmission of 20,00016-ary symbols of the XG-CSSC carrier (of FIG. 19(a) or 19(b)) and FIG.22 represents a histogram thereof. It is seen from FIGS. 19, 21 and 22that XG-CSSC transmissions may be substantially featureless andsubstantially indistinguishable from thermal noise.

Communications performance has also been evaluated. FIG. 23 shows a BitError Rate (“BER”) vs. a Symbol Energy to Noise Power Spectral Density(“E_(S)/N₀”) for uncoded 16-ary XG-CSSC and uncoded spread-spectrum16-QAM. (See Donald L. Schilling et al. “Optimization of the ProcessingGain of an M-ary Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Communication System,”IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. Com-28, No. 8, August 1980.)Spread-spectrum 16-QAM was chosen for this comparison in order to keep anumber of transmitted bits per symbol invariant between the twotransmission formats. The E_(S)/N₀ advantage of XG-CSSC is apparent,owing to its orthonormal signaling alphabet. It is seen that at 10⁻²BER, XG-CSSC enjoys almost a 5 dB advantage over 16-QAM.

FIG. 24 shows BER performance subject to Co-Channel (“CC”) interference.The two systems (16-ary XG-CSSC and spread-spectrum 16-QAM) remainuncoded as in FIG. 23. Two types of CC interference are considered:Wide-Band (“WB”) and Band-Pass (“BP”). The WB interference is modeled aswideband complex Gaussian noise and its PSD spans the entire desiredsignal spectrum. The BP interference is modeled as band-pass complexGaussian noise and its PSD spans only 20% of the desired signalspectrum. The power of interference (whether WB or BP) is made equal tothe power of the desired signal. In FIG. 24, the cognitive aspect ofXG-CSSC is not activated. As a consequence, the interference spectrumand the XG-CSSC spectrum remain co-channel impairing BER performance.

FIG. 25 focuses on the impact of BP interference and displays XG-CSSCsystem performance with and without cognition. The two systems remainuncoded, as above, and the power of interference remains equal to thepower of the desired signal. In the legend of FIG. 25, the term“Adaptive XG-CSSC” indicates that the associated curve representsXG-CSSC with the cognitive feature active. It can be observed thatperformance of XG-CSSC subject to the cognitive feature (interferenceavoidance) is indistinguishable from the interference-free case (theblue [square points] and green [star points] curves are on top of eachother).

Embodiments of the present invention have been described above in termsof systems, methods, devices and/or computer program products thatprovide communication devoid of cyclostationary features. However, otherembodiments of the present invention may selectively providecommunications devoid of cyclostationary features. For example, as shownin FIG. 16 if LPI/LPD/LPE communications are desired, thennon-cyclostationary waveforms may be transmitted. In contrast, whenLPI/LPD/LPE communications need not be transmitted, cyclostationarywaveforms may be used. An indicator may be provided to allow a receiverto determine whether cyclostationary or non-cyclostationary waveformsare being transmitted. Accordingly, a given system, method, deviceand/or computer program can operate in one of two modes, depending uponwhether LPI/LPD/LPE communications are desired.

Privacy and security are paramount concerns for military/governmentcommunications systems. Privacy and security are also important concernsfor civilian/commercial systems owing to the proliferation of e-commerceand other sensitive information of a personal and/orcorporate/business/financial nature. Theft of sensitive and/orproprietary information, for example, by interception of signals, is onthe rise and can be very costly to businesses and/or individuals. Peopleoften discuss sensitive information over wireless networks providingopportunities for illegal interception and theft of secrets.Accordingly, wireless communications systems/methods/devices thatincrease privacy and security of information and reduce or eliminate thepossibility of unauthorized interception thereof would be valuable tocorporations/businesses, government/military, and civilians who desireadded privacy and security.

Additional embodiments of systems/methods/devices that increase privacy,security, covertness and/or undetectability of signals, such as wirelesssignals, will now be presented. At least some of the additionalembodiments are based upon a realization that a XG-CSSC technology(i.e., a XG-CSSC-based communications system, method and/or airinterface/protocol), as described hereinabove, or one or more variationsthereof, may be used alone, or in combination with one or more otherconventional technologies (conventional communications systems, methodsand/or air interfaces/protocols), to provide the added privacy,security, covertness and/or undetectability of signals, that may be,according to embodiments of the invention, wireless signals. The XG-CSSCtechnology is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/372,354, filedFeb. 17, 2009, entitled Wireless Communications Systems and/or MethodsProviding Low Interference, High Privacy and/or Cognitive Flexibility,and in the U.S. and International Applications cited and incorporatedtherein by reference and assigned to the Assignee of the presentApplication (EICES Research, Inc.) as well as in the ProvisionalApplications cited and incorporated therein by reference and assigned tothe Assignee of the present Application, all of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety as if set forth fully herein.

Further, the XG-CSSC technology may include aspects/embodiments, in partor in whole, as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/748,931, filedMar. 29, 2010, entitled Increased Capacity Communications for OFDM-BasedWireless Communications Systems/Methods/Devices, and in the U.S. andInternational Applications cited and incorporated therein by referenceand assigned to the Assignee of the present Application (EICES Research,Inc.) as well as in the Provisional Applications cited and incorporatedtherein by reference and assigned to the Assignee of the presentApplication, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety as if set forth fully herein. It will be understood that theterm “XG-CSSC technology” as used herein refers to any type ofcommunications (wireless or otherwise) using a waveform, system, method,air interface and/or protocol that is based upon and/or uses apseudo-randomly generated signaling alphabet and wherein thecommunications can comprise a reduced cyclostationary signature, areduced detectability feature and/or increasedprivacy/security/covertness compared to conventionalwaveforms/technologies of, for example, TDM/TDMA, CDM/CDMA, FDM/FDMA,OFDM/OFDMA, GSM, WiMAX and/or LTE. Further, it will be understood thatthe term “conventional waveforms/technologies” as used herein refers tocommunications using a waveform, system, method, air interface and/orprotocol that is not based upon and/or does not use a pseudo-randomlygenerated signaling alphabet.

Accordingly, a user device may be configured to include a XG-CSSC mode,comprising a XG-CSSC technology/air interface, and at least oneadditional mode (technology/air interface), such as, for example, a LTE(Long Term Evolution)-based technology/air interface. A user of such adevice who desires the added privacy, security, covertness and/orundetectability of signals may elect to activate/use the XG-CSSC mode ofthe device by providing, for example, a key-pad command and/or a voicecommand to the device. In some embodiments, instead of the above or incombination with the above, the XG-CSSC mode of the device may beactivated responsive to at least a time value, position value, proximitystate, velocity, acceleration, a biometric value (that may be abiometric value associated with the user of the device and/or some otherentity) and/or signal strength value (as may be sensed by the deviceand/or other device, such as, for example, an access point). Followingactivation of the XG-CSSC mode, the user device may be configured toestablish communications with a base station and/or access point usingthe XG-CSSC mode, while refraining from using, at least for someelements/portions of the communications, the at least one additionaltechnology and/or air interface.

It will be understood that the base station and/or access point (which,in some embodiments may be a femtocell) is/are also configured toinclude a XG-CSSC mode. Also, it will be understood that establishingcommunications between the user device and the base station and/oraccess point using a XG-CSSC mode may be more expensive to the user(i.e., may be offered by a service provider at a premium) compared toestablishing communications between the user device and the base stationand/or access point using the at least one additional technology and/orair interface. It will further be understood that the service providermay not charge a premium for XG-CSSC mode communications between anaccess point (e.g., femtocell) and a user device, thus encouragingaccess point deployments and usage, for example, to relieve capacitybottlenecks within conventional wireless infrastructure of the serviceprovider.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the user device may be configured topreferentially use the XG-CSSC mode responsive to aclassification/sensitivity and/or a privacy level of information to becommunicated being above a predetermined threshold and/or responsive toa first time value, a first position, a first proximity state, a firstvelocity, a first acceleration, a first biometric measurement and/or afirst signal strength and to preferentially use the at least oneadditional technology or air interface responsive to theclassification/sensitivity and/or privacy level of information to becommunicated being equal to or below the predetermined threshold and/orresponsive to a second time value, a second position, a second proximitystate, a second velocity, a second acceleration, a second biometricmeasurement and/or a second signal strength. In multimediacommunications, for example, wherein sensitive as well as non-sensitiveinformation may need to be communicated simultaneously and/orsequentially, the user device may be configured to communicate thesensitive information using the XG-CSSC mode and to use the at least oneadditional technology and/or air interface (simultaneously with usingthe XG-CSSC mode and/or at different times) to communicate thenon-sensitive information. It will be understood that the term “XG-CSSCmode” as used herein refers to communications using a waveform, system,method, air interface and/or protocol that is based upon and/or uses apseudo-randomly generated signaling alphabet and wherein thecommunications can comprise a reduced cyclostationary signature, areduced detectability feature and/or increasedprivacy/security/covertness compared to conventional waveforms, systemsand/or methods of, for example, TDM/TDMA, CDM/CDMA, FDM/FDMA,OFDM/OFDMA, GSM, WiMAX and/or LTE.

As has been stated earlier, a signaling alphabet that may be associatedwith the XG-CSSC mode (i.e., an M-ary signaling alphabet comprising atleast two elements that are pseudo-randomly generated and may beorthogonal therebetween) may be determined pseudo-randomly responsive toa statistical distribution based upon a key (seed) and/or a Time-of-Day(“ToD”) value. In some embodiments, the key may be a network defined key(e.g., defined/determined by an element/unit of the service provider)and may be used by one or more base stations of the network and by aplurality of user devices associated therewith. In other embodiments,instead of the above, or in combination with the above, a key that isassociated with a user device may be defined (or determined) by a userof the user device and/or by the user device. In further embodiments, auser device may include a network defined key and a user defined key.

In order for the user (and/or the user device) to define the userdefined key, the user (and/or the user device) may access a web site,that may be associated with the service provider, and access anindividual account associated with the user (and/or the user device) byproviding, for example, an on-line ID, a user name and/or a password.Following authentication of the user (and/or user device) by the website, the user (and/or the user device) may define the user defined keyby specifying, for example, a sequence of letters, numbers and/or othercharacters. The web site may be connected (wirelessly or otherwise) to anetwork element thus providing the user defined key to one or moreaccess points and/or one or more base stations of the network. Also, theuser may have to provide the same user defined key to the user device.Accordingly, the network and the user device may, responsive to the samekey, derive the same signaling alphabet and may thus be able tocommunicate via the XG-CSSC mode (i.e., the same XG-CSSC mode). In someembodiments, the signaling alphabet may only/solely be based upon theuser defined key. In other embodiments, the signaling alphabet may bebased upon a combination of the user defined key and the network definedkey. In further embodiments, the signaling alphabet may only/solely bebased upon the network defined key. The user defined key may be changedby the user and/or by the user device (that is, may be re-defined by theuser and/or by the user device) as often as the user desires thusproviding additional security and privacy to the user. In someembodiments, upon accessing said web site and upon accessing saidindividual account associated with the user/user device, the web sitemay be configured to offer a key (i.e., a new unique key) to be used bythe user/user device as a new “user defined” key. The user/user devicemay accept the offer or decline it, and, in the event the offer isdeclined, the user/user device may proceed to define the user definedkey as described earlier. In the event the offer is accepted, the usermay have to insert/activate the new “user defined” key provided by theweb site into the user device.

In some embodiments, a forward link, from an access point and/or a basestation to the user device, may be based upon the network defined keywhile a return link, from the user device to an access point and/or abase station, may be based upon the user defined key. In furtherembodiments, a system element (e.g., an access point and/or a basestation) may relay to a first user device a user defined key that isassociated with a second user device and may require/instruct the firstuser device to initiate communications using the user defined key of thesecond user device or to hand-over communications from communicationsthat are based upon a first key being used by the first user device tocommunications that are based upon the user defined key of the seconduser device. In some embodiments, said relay to a first user device auser defined key that is associated with a second user device may occurresponsive to an orientation and/or distance of the first devicerelative to the second device. In further embodiments, the second userdevice, whose user defined key is relayed to the first user device, isselectively and/or preferentially chosen from a group of user devicesthat are authorized to communicate with an access point that the firstuser device may also be authorized to communicate with. Said relay to afirst user device a user defined key that is associated with a seconduser device may take place using communications that are based upon thefirst key that is being used by the first user device (the first keybeing a network defined key and/or a user defined key of the firstdevice).

It will be understood that any of the principles/embodiments (in wholeor in part) described above regarding network defined and/or userdefined keys may relate to an XG-CSSC mode and/or to one or more otherconventional waveforms/modes such as, for example, TDM/TDMA, CDM/CDMA,FDM/FDMA, OFDM/OFDMA, GSM, WiMAX and/or LTE, in order to provide userdefined and/or network defined encryption and/or data scrambling thereinand increase a privacy/security level thereof. Further, it will beunderstood that an XG-CSSC mode may comprise the user defined key and/orthe network defined key, as already described, for forming the signalingalphabet, and may also comprise a “special” user defined key and/or a“special” network defined key, that differs from the user defined keyand/or network defined key already discussed above, forencryption/scrambling of data prior to transmission thereof. The specialuser/network defined key may be defined by the user/network and/or userdevice along the same lines as discussed earlier for the user/networkdefined key but, wherein the user/network defined key may be shared by aplurality of devices, as already discussed above, the specialuser/network defined key may not be shared. Accordingly, in someembodiments of the present invention first and second devices may becommunicating with a given base station and/or a given access point(e.g., femtocell) using the same user/network defined key forconstructing/generating the signaling alphabets thereof and may becommunicating with the given base station and/or given access pointusing respective first and second different special user/network definedkeys for encryption and/or scrambling of data.

FIGS. 26 and 27 illustrate additional embodiments of the presentinvention. As is illustrated in FIG. 26, a wireless network may comprisea plurality of base stations, only one of which is illustrated in FIG.26, and a plurality of access points, installed in homes, offices andin/at any other place, as deemed necessary/desirable, to provideadditional privacy/security while off-loading capacity from one or morenear-by base stations (only one access point of the plurality of accesspoints is illustrated in FIG. 26). A user device (e.g., a radioterminal;first user device of FIG. 26) may be configured to detect proximity toan access point, such as the access point illustrated in FIG. 26, andestablish communications preferentially with the access point whilerefraining from communicating with a base station even though the userdevice is within a service region of the base station (such as the basestation illustrated in FIG. 26) and can communicate with that basestation. The first user device illustrated in FIG. 26 may further beconfigured, according to embodiments of the invention, to establishcommunications preferentially with the access point and topreferentially use the XG-CSSC mode to communicate with the accesspoint. In some embodiments, the first user device is configured to usethe network defined key and/or the user defined key corresponding to thefirst user device. In other embodiments, the first user device isprovided (by the wireless network via the access point and/or the basestation) a user defined key of another user device that may be alreadyengaged in communications with an access point and/or a base station oris getting ready to engage in communications with an access point and/orbase station. A user device (e.g., a radioterminal) may be configured todetect proximity to an access point by, for example, detecting a signalbeing radiated by the access point and/or by detecting a position thatthe user device has reached. It will be understood that in the eventthat communicating preferentially with the access point is not possible,due to a network malfunction and/or other reason, then the user devicemay be configured to communicate with the base station.

FIG. 26 also illustrates a second user device that is not proximate tothe access point and/or is not allowed to communicate with the accesspoint (e.g., the access point is privately owned and has not providedaccess to the second user device). Accordingly, the second user deviceis configured to communicate with the base station and may do so byusing one of the conventional air interface standards/protocols (such asan LTE mode, as is illustrated in FIG. 26) if the information that isbeing communicated has not been deemed sensitive, and to communicatewith the base station using the XG-CSSC mode if the information that isbeing communicated has been deemed sensitive and needs a higher level ofprotection and/or privacy. In some embodiments, a first portion of theinformation to be communicated may be deemed sensitive, requiring extraprotection, while a second portion of the information to be communicatedmay not be deemed sensitive. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the firstportion of the information is communicated using the XG-CSSC mode whilethe second portion of the information is communicated, concurrently withthe first portion or otherwise, using a mode other than XG-CSSC (e.g.,LTE, WiMAX, GSM, etc.). Providing access of a user device to an accesspoint comprises, according to some embodiments, providing to the accesspoint an identity of the user device. The identity of the user devicemay be provided to the access point manually by interacting directlywith the access point and/or remotely by providing the identity of theuser device to a web site (e.g., along the lines discussed earlier inconnection with providing the user defined key) and then having the website, which is connected to the access point, provide the identity ofthe user device to the access point. Similarly, a user device may bedeleted from having access to an access point by either manuallyinteracting with the access point and deleting/erasing the identity ofthe user device from a memory of the access point and/or by doing soremotely via the web site that is connected to the access point.

Whether a user device is communicating with the access point and/or withthe base station (wherein the “and” part of the immediately preceding“and/or” may be occurring in order to provide diversity, addedcommunications link robustness and/or a “make before break” connectionin handing-over communications from the access point to the base stationor vice versa) the user device, the base station and/or the access pointmay be configured to initiate and implement a hand-over fromcommunications that are based upon the XG-CSSC mode and a first key tocommunications that are based upon the XG-CSSC mode and a second key,wherein the first key is at least one of: a user defined key relating tothe user device, a user defined key relating to another user device anda network defined key; and wherein the second key differs from the firstkey.

Referring now to FIG. 27, additional embodiments of the presentinvention will be described. FIG. 27 illustrates four user devicescommunicating with a base station. The user devices are labeled “1,”“2,” “3” and “4,” respectively, wherein user devices 1 and 2 (indicatedas “group 1” in FIG. 27) are proximate therebetween and user devices 3and 4 (indicated as group 2 in FIG. 27) are proximate therebetween butare not proximate to user devices 1 and 2. Accordingly, responsive to adistance between group 1 and group 2 approaching and/or exceeding apredetermined value, the base station may be configured, according tosome embodiments, to communicate with group 1 using a first antennapattern and to communicate with group 2 using a second antenna patternthat is substantially different than the first antenna pattern, asillustrated in FIG. 27. Antenna pattern discrimination may thus beprovided to group 1 and to group 2, reducing a level of interferencetherebetween and allowing reuse of resources (frequencies, keys,alphabet elements) between the two groups. It will be understood thatthe number of groups being served by a base station (or a base stationsector) may be more than two and a number of user devices per group mayexceed two or be less than two (i.e., one). The antenna patterns thatare illustrated in FIG. 27 may be formed by the base station using anyone of the principles/teachings/embodiments (in whole or in part) ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/748,931, filed Mar. 29, 2010,entitled Increased Capacity Communications for OFDM-Based WirelessCommunications Systems/Methods/Devices, which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety as if set forth fully herein,including all references and definitions cited therein.

Still referring to FIG. 27, user device 1, communicating with the basestation via link 1, and user and user device 2, communicating with thebase station via link 2, may be communicating with the base stationconcurrently and co-frequency therebetween while relying on alphabetelement discrimination (e.g., code discrimination) to maintain a levelof interference therebetween at or below an acceptable level. Each oneof the wireless communications links that are established and served bythe first antenna pattern, link 1 and link 2, may be using (may havebeen allocated) different, substantially orthogonal, alphabet elementsof a XG-CSSC mode, wherein the XG-CSSC mode may be based upon a networkdefined key and/or a user defined key (as described earlier).Accordingly, a signaling alphabet of the XG-CSSC mode, based upon anetwork/user defined key and a statistical distribution, comprising aplurality of orthogonal waveform elements, may be distributed by thebase station over a plurality of links (e.g., link 1 and link 2) thatare being served by a common antenna pattern and do not/cannot rely uponantenna pattern discrimination for acceptable performance. That is, thebase station may allocate at least a first element of the plurality oforthogonal waveform elements of the signaling alphabet to, for example,link 1 while allocating at least a second element of the plurality oforthogonal waveform elements to link 2. Similar arguments hold relativeto the user devices of group 2 communicating with the base station vialinks 3 and 4 of the second antenna pattern, as is illustrated in FIG.27.

The base station(s), access point(s) and/or mobile device(s) that havebeen discussed/illustrated herein and/or in the references providedherein may be configured, according to embodiments of the presentinvention, to execute a handover during a communications session betweena first signaling alphabet that is associated with a first key and asecond signaling alphabet of a second key, responsive to a physicalorientation between at least two mobile devices and/or responsive to alevel of interference. We stress that by using pseudo-randomly generatedsignaling alphabets to provide communications (wireless and/orwireline), an extra level of encryption/scrambling is provided that isover and above the conventional encryption/scrambling that is providedat the bit level. Accordingly, embodiments of the present inventionprovide what may be termed “concatenated” encryption/scrambling, at thebit level and at the signaling alphabet level. Each one of these twoencryption/scrambling components may be based upon a user defined keyand/or a network defined key.

In additional embodiments of the present invention, a system/method suchas that illustrated in FIG. 17 (or a variation thereof), that maycomprise performing a FFT and a IFFT in order to generate an M-arysignaling alphabet, may be combined (in whole or in part) with asystem/method such as that illustrated in FIG. 5 (or a variationthereof). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the“I” and/or “Q” output signals of the block labeled “Symbol to WaveformMapping” of FIG. 17 may correspond to the output signal of the blocklabeled “Bit-to-Symbol Conversion” of FIG. 5 and/or to the input signalof the block labeled “Symbol Repeat” of FIG. 5. It will be understoodthat the blocks of FIG. 5 that are labeled “Symbol Repeat” and/or“Symbol Interleaver” may be bypassed in some embodiments. Accordingly,in some embodiments, said “I” and/or “Q” output signals (or a variantthereof) may be used as an input to the “MODULATOR” of FIG. 5. In someembodiments, the “I” and/or “Q” output signals (or a variant thereof)may be subjected to a FFT (or a IFFT) before being presented to the“MODULATOR” of FIG. 5, whereby a frequency-domain representation thereofis used by the “MODULATOR” of FIG. 5. This may reduce a peak-to-averageratio of a signal to be amplified and transmitted.

It will be understood that generating pseudo-randomly a communicationsalphabet, as has been discussed hereinabove, may also be applied to asystem/method wherein the communications alphabet comprises aconstellation of points and not a set of functions (time-domain and/orfrequency-domain functions).

Finally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that by leaving someelements and/or dimensions of a communications alphabet un-utilized fortransmission of data, thus giving-up capacity, BER performance may beimproved by increasing a size of a decision space that may be associatedwith a correct decision at a receiver. For example, in QPSK, if theconstellation points of the second and fourth quadrants, were to be leftun-utilized for transmission of data, the decision space for a correctdecision at a receiver would grow from one fourth of the two-dimensionalplane to one half of the two-dimensional plane.

The present invention has been described with reference to blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (systems)and/or computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to producea machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processorof the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus,create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or insoftware (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.).Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in themedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system.In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks of the block diagrams/flowcharts mayoccur out of the order noted in the block diagram/flowcharts. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts/blockdiagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionalityof two or more blocks of the flowcharts/block diagrams may be at leastpartially integrated.

In the specification and the Figures thereof, there have been disclosedembodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation; the scope of the invention being set forth inthe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile device comprising a processor that isconfigured to control the mobile device to perform operationscomprising: communicating using a first communications mode comprising afirst level of security/privacy and a first wireless communications linkthat is based upon radio frequency emissions comprising a first airinterface, a first power level, a first cyclostationary signature and afirst detectability measure that is based upon the first power level andthe first cyclostationary signature; communicating using a secondcommunications mode comprising a second level of security/privacy thatis greater than the first level of security/privacy and a secondwireless communications link that is based upon radio frequencyemissions comprising a second power level that is less than the firstpower level, a second air interface that differs from the first airinterface, a second cyclostationary signature that differs from thefirst cyclostationary signature and comprises a reduction relative tothe first cyclostationary signature and a second detectability measurethat is less than the first detectability measure based upon the secondpower level being less than the first power level and based upon thesecond cyclostationary signature comprising said reduction relative tothe first cyclostationary signature; using the first communications modeto communicate information that is associated with the first level ofsecurity/privacy while refraining from using the second communicationsmode to communicate information that is associated with the first levelof security/privacy; and using the second communications mode tocommunicate information that is associated with the second level ofsecurity/privacy while refraining from using the first communicationsmode to communicate information that is associated with the second levelof security/privacy; wirelessly communicating with a base station, at afirst distance from the base station, using the first communicationsmode comprising the first level of security/privacy; and wirelesslycommunicating with an access point, at a second distance from the accesspoint that is less than the first distance, using the secondcommunications mode comprising the second level of security/privacy thatis greater than the first level of security/privacy, responsive to aproximity condition having been satisfied by the mobile device relativeto the access point.
 2. The mobile device according to claim 1, whereinthe processor is further configured to control the mobile device toperform further operations comprising: concurrently using the firstcommunications mode and the second communications mode to communicateinformation responsive to the information comprising said first level ofsecurity/privacy and said second level of security/privacy.
 3. Themobile device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to control the mobile device to perform further operationscomprising: communicating with the base station and with the accesspoint by using respective first and second signaling alphabetscomprising a plurality of waveforms that are orthogonal therebetween. 4.A communications method comprising: communicating using a firstcommunications mode comprising a first level of security/privacy and afirst wireless communications link that is based upon radio frequencyemissions comprising a first air interface, a first power level, a firstcyclostationary signature and a first detectability measure that isbased upon the first power level and the first cyclostationarysignature; communicating using a second communications mode comprising asecond level of security/privacy that is greater than the first level ofsecurity/privacy and a second wireless communications link that is basedupon radio frequency emissions comprising a second power level that isless than the first power level, a second air interface that differsfrom the first air interface, a second cyclostationary signature thatdiffers from the first cyclostationary signature and comprises areduction relative to the first cyclostationary signature and a seconddetectability measure that is less than the first detectability measurebased upon the second power level being less than the first power leveland based upon the second cyclostationary signature comprising saidreduction relative to the first cyclostationary signature; using thefirst communications mode to communicate information that is associatedwith the first level of security/privacy while refraining from using thesecond communications mode to communicate information that is associatedwith the first level of security/privacy; and using the secondcommunications mode to communicate information that is associated withthe second level of security/privacy while refraining from using thefirst communications mode to communicate information that is associatedwith the second level of security/privacy; wirelessly communicating by amobile device with a base station, at a first distance from the basestation, using the first communications mode comprising the first levelof security/privacy; and wirelessly communicating by the mobile devicewith an access point, at a second distance from the access point that isless than the first distance, using the second communications modecomprising the second level of security/privacy that is greater than thefirst level of security/privacy, responsive to a proximity conditionhaving been satisfied by the mobile device relative to the access point.5. The communications method according to claim 4, further comprising:concurrently using the first communications mode and the secondcommunications mode to communicate information responsive to theinformation comprising said first level of security/privacy and saidsecond level of security/privacy.
 6. The communications method accordingto claim 4, further comprising: communicating with the base station andwith the access point by using respective first and second signalingalphabets comprising a plurality of waveforms that are orthogonaltherebetween.
 7. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium having computer readable program codeembodied in the medium, that when executed by a processor of a mobiledevice controls the mobile device to perform operations comprising:communicating using a first communications mode comprising a first levelof security/privacy and a first wireless communications link that isbased upon radio frequency emissions comprising a first air interface, afirst power level, a first cyclostationary signature and a firstdetectability measure that is based upon the first power level and thefirst cyclostationary signature; communicating using a secondcommunications mode comprising a second level of security/privacy thatis greater than the first level of security/privacy and a secondwireless communications link that is based upon radio frequencyemissions comprising a second power level that is less than the firstpower level, a second air interface that differs from the first airinterface, a second cyclostationary signature that differs from thefirst cyclostationary signature and comprises a reduction relative tothe first cyclostationary signature and a second detectability measurethat is less than the first detectability measure based upon the secondpower level being less than the first power level and based upon thesecond cyclostationary signature comprising said reduction relative tothe first cyclostationary signature; using the first communications modeto communicate information that is associated with the first level ofsecurity/privacy while refraining from using the second communicationsmode to communicate information that is associated with the first levelof security/privacy; and using the second communications mode tocommunicate information that is associated with the second level ofsecurity/privacy while refraining from using the first communicationsmode to communicate information that is associated with the second levelof security/privacy; and wirelessly communicating with a base station,at a first distance from the base station, using the firstcommunications mode comprising the first level of security/privacy; andwirelessly communicating with an access point, at a second distance fromthe access point that is less than the first distance, using the secondcommunications mode comprising the second level of security/privacy thatis greater than the first level of security/privacy, responsive to aproximity condition having been satisfied by the mobile device relativeto the access point.
 8. The computer program product according to claim7, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured tocontrol the mobile device to perform further operations comprising:concurrently using the communications first mode and the secondcommunications mode to communicate information responsive to theinformation comprising said first level of security/privacy and saidsecond level of security/privacy.
 9. The computer program productaccording to claim 7, wherein the computer readable program code isfurther configured to control the mobile device to perform furtheroperations comprising: communicating with the base station and with theaccess point by using respective first and second signaling alphabetscomprising a plurality of waveforms that are orthogonal therebetween.